Should I get a Baritone Conversion neck?

[cip 123]

Hey folks,

Just been wondering about getting a baritone neck as I've been having a few issues with a custom neck I got (looks gorgeous, turns out it's not even fretted properly )

I'm tempted to get a Warmoth conversion neck as I mostly play in open C/B and occasionally Drop C.

I'm just wondering if you can tune Open C/B as you've got to tune up a tiny bit for C. Will there be too much tension?

Also anyone had any experience with the Conversion necks from Warmoth?

Cheers

 

[elkinz]

also considering this for my telecaster. Would love to hear opinions too

 

[Demiurge]

I don't think you need to go baritone to play in C, to be honest. If you're looking to go below B and want to keep the strings relatively light, then baritone might be a good decision.

 

[thrashmetal85]

What is your main instrument?

Maybe even consider a wholly new instrument for one tuning and keep your original for another.

 

[posmaster]

I have one of the Warmth Bari necks (tuned B-B) and it's just spot on quality - I got mine in all-birdseye maple FWIW.

It might just take some time to pick out the right strings for whatever tension/tuning you want - I've gone through more sets trying to find something that's just percussive enough, but not too tight.

 

[xwmucradiox]

I tune my baritone to Drop C pretty regularly with heavy strings and it works perfectly.

 

[Vostre Roy]

Keep in mind that Warmoth necks doesn't fits every guitars, they're made for Fender intruments

That being said, I own two warmoth guitars, one with a regular sized neck and one with a baritone conversion, quality is top notch

 

[xwmucradiox]

They're made for any body that accepts a fender-spec 25.5" scale neck. There are thousands of non-fender guitars that meet that qualification.

 

[youngthrasher9]

I'd say if open C was your main tuning, you could probably stick to 25.5" comfortably.

It's all preference. I have a 7 that is 25.5" that feels and sounds fine. I would like to get a baritone conversion neck for it, however. I prefer longer scale for lower than C, but it's not a deal breaker.

The feel isn't all that different IME, it's mostly a sonic difference. My Mushok Baritone is quite a bit brighter sounding unplugged compared to my SIR27FD.

 

[youngthrasher9]

What irks me is that the only decent Ibanez conversion neck that I've found is made by ET in Australia and he's constantly swamped with orders.

 

[Vostre Roy]

They're made for any body that accepts a fender-spec 25.5" scale neck. There are thousands of non-fender guitars that meet that qualification.

Yeah thats what I meant, they're made for Fenders or anything that is made like a Fender, but it was worth to be clarified

 

[cip 123]

The guitar is originally a Warmoth body, I just got the custom neck as I live in Scotland and wasn't really wanting to pay the import charges, however now the price to have the neck fixed could've bought me 2 Warmoth necks by now.


I play mainly in open C and I really do like light strings and the tone you get from them, I usually order Kalium strings so custom sets won't be an issue it's just if it's even possible as Open C you have to tune your B string up to C and I'm worried that'll be too hard to do.

I do like 25.5" just figured it would be a nice option since I rarely move out of open B/C

 

[GuitarBizarre]

Yes, it's possible. There's no issue with tuning strings up a tone when you're lengthening the scale. The extra distance the string has to stretch is compensated for by the fact there is more string TO stretch.

 

[cip 123]

Thanks for the input guys, Now faced with a dilemma.

My custom neck cost me about £250 ($380 I believe) I took it to a repair shop just to get the frets fixed as it was bit of a hassle to get out to the builder. I just wanted the fret ends filed however the Repair shop said the frets hadn't been put in properly and it would cost round about £300 to do a full refret and setup. Or i can take it back to the builder and have him "fix" it though I don't know if he'll do it properly or what.

Should I sell the neck as is, or take it back and get the builder to "fix" it bearing in mind they might make things worse?

 

[BIG ND SWEATY]

show us the neck, from everything i hear about Warmoth and their quality the frte shouldn't have been put in wrong. the shop might just be trying to con you outta some money.

 

[MF_Kitten]

I discovered the hard way that baritone conversions lead to bad balance issues and longer stretches for your left arm. A lot of industry standard guitars are already like that from the factory, sure, but it's still not ideal.

 

[cip 123]

show us the neck, from everything i hear about Warmoth and their quality the frte shouldn't have been put in wrong. the shop might just be trying to con you outta some money.

The neck wasn't from Warmoth, I had it made here in Scotland as I didn't want to deal with import charges, however it's now turning out to be more expensive as the luthier apparently wasn't as good as I was led to believe. I'll try an post a couple pics up.

I wouldn't think that of the shop, they're very reputable and it was the owner (who actually builds guitars) I was talking too. He did say he could do it cheaper without a refret but it still wouldn't be as good as it could be.

 

[cip 123]

I discovered the hard way that baritone conversions lead to bad balance issues and longer stretches for your left arm. A lot of industry standard guitars are already like that from the factory, sure, but it's still not ideal.

I have pretty large hands and Ive played Extended range stuff for a while so stretches aren't a big problem for me after warming up.

The guitar is also semi-hollow so yea I can see how balance issues might arise, Might try and get light woods for the neck.

 

[cip 123]

Pics of the frets here, sorry I'm terrible at adding pictures on here - Frets - Album on Imgur

You can see some frets aren't pushed/glued down properly, the luthier I visited explained that they've been glued in the center but the ends popped up and the Builder hasn't known how to fix it.

I'd agree as there isn't any fret buzz or anything so I'm assuming that the ends popped up and the builder went ahead and set them up/dressed them as they were. The only real problem is the sharp edges, which the builder said he would fix if I took it back, however I'm hesitant to take it back as he seemingly can't fret necks in the first place.

 

[youngthrasher9]

I would be very much surprised if the longer neck would cause dive- it's a difference of literally ounces of weight in heavy wood and not that much extra downward leverage.

I could see it worsening pre-existing neck dive, perhaps.